Processes add value to an organization and better understanding the processes at play within your own company can highlight areas of improvement. Mapping out your processes can make visual the ways that you can operate more efficiently and achieve greater cost reduction.

In this podcast, we will look at Blockchains in the supply chain and how it impacts the transportation industry. Blockchain is quickly making a name for itself as an innovation in information and financial transactions, but what actually 'is' this technology and how does it work? In short, Blockchain is a cloud-based ledger and it is the underlying technology that digital currencies use (i.e. BitCoin). Listen to learn more.

In this podcast, Corrie Bank and William Merrill examine leadership strategies that achieve results. Changing leadership approaches can result in significant cost reductions. However, there are two important characteristics of good leaders. First, they need to value and empower their team, and second, leaders are seen as the people who drive results in an organization, lower operating costs and improve profitability. In order to accomplish your objectives, you need to achieve a combination of both leadership approaches.

This CMI podcast will take a closer look at electronic logging devices and the impact they will have on shipment management and cost savings. Electronic logging devices are now mandatory on all trucks in the U.S. and it is expected that Canada will have a similar policy in place by December 2017. This present shippers and carriers with an interesting opportunity to have a point of digital transfer in all of their trucks with exchanges of information in their company. This new transfer point allows companies to have increased transparency, as well as allowing companies to have real-time shipment tracking and allows the company to address issues faster. ELDs can track on or off-duty hours, yard miles, engine hours, speed, and distance. With the ability for drivers to add comments to any changes the software picks up. They can also help with route optimization and scheduling maintenance. All of these benefits will bring much better customer service at a lower operating cost.

Data is everywhere in supply chains and having the right processes and technology to collect, organize, and analyze data can bring far reaching benefits to an organization. Data analytics when used effectively, will transform and optimize supply chain processes. But it is important to recognize that this data can actually be detrimental if this data is not complete or is poor quality. Good business intentions based on bad data can lead to increased costs rather than finding efficiencies. In this podcast, we offer some advice on how to collect and use meaningful supply chain data analytics.

In this podcast, we discuss two supply chain companies that are using artificial intelligence to optimize their operations: Otto Motors (A division of Clearpath Robotics) that is using automatous vehicles in their warehouse facilities, and DHL a global logistics provider that is embracing anticipatory logistics.